Key Takeaways
The proportion of CFOs expressing optimism for their companies’ financial prospects rose to 32% from last quarter’s 20%. Their appetite for greater risk-taking jumped to 40% this quarter, up from last quarter’s 29%.
A vast majority (93%) of surveyed CFOs have their finance organization focused on planning for a mild recession.
Nearly two-thirds (65%) of CFOs expect inflation in the United States to range between 4% and 6% by the end of 2023.
More than half (54%) of CFOs see the North American economy improving over the next 12 months.
The top three actions CFOs are taking to prepare for an economic recovery are investing in growth, sales, customers and new markets; controlling cost/increasing operational efficiency; and building inventory/production capacity to meet demand.
More than half of CFOs pointed to inadequate technologies/systems, immature capabilities, and lack of experienced talent as their greatest obstacles in driving data to insights.
Why it matters to CFOs?
Each quarter, CFO Signals™ tracks the thinking and actions of leading CFOs representing North America’s largest and most influential companies. Since 2010, the survey has provided key insights into the business environment, company priorities and expectations, finance priorities and CFOs’ priorities. Participating CFOs represent diversified, large companies, with 78% of respondents reporting revenue greater than $1 billion. Slightly less than one-quarter (22%) are from companies with greater than $10 billion in annual revenue.
Economic outlook
CFOs’ sentiment toward current conditions rose across the five economic regions covered in the CFO Signals survey, except South America. For North America, 40% of CFOs rated the current economy as good or very good, up from 35% in 4Q22. More than half (54%) of CFOs expect conditions in North America to improve in a year, up measurably from 29% last quarter.
CFOs’ economic outlook also improved for the other four regions. Five percent of CFOs…
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